We just returned from a holiday in California and from the minute we arrived we were struck by how many of the houses already had their Halloween decorations up. The kids couldn’t get enough of all the ghosts and monsters hanging from people’s porches and the front yards decked out like crime scenes. It certainly made for fun walks around the neighbourhood. As soon as we got home to England we rushed straight to the greengrocers to pick out some pumpkins and set to making some decorations to add a little halloween spirit to the house. With only one day to go these apple print pumpkins turned out to be a perfect quick and easy halloween craft and an excellent distraction from our horrible jet lag.

Slice the apple in half using a sharp knife and blot the surface dry with tissue. You will need a nice smooth surface to get a clean print. If the cut surface of the apple has bumps or dips then slice off another thin layer until you get it smooth. This part is best done by an adult.

Apply orange paint to the surface of the apple then press down firmly onto a piece of plain paper. You might need to apply extra pressure at the edges to get a clean outline. If the print leaves a few white patches don’t worry, it all adds to the effect. Repeat as many times as you like.

Once the prints have dried let your halloween creativity loose and draw on different pumpkin faces. No scooping, knife skills or mess involved just lots of fun drawing silly spooky faces. If you have letter stamps to hand you could also print out a halloween message onto some of the pumpkins in black ink. Next roughly cut out the apple print pumpkins, no need to be precise.

To assemble the garland take a long piece of string, pierce a hole through the top of each pumpkin and thread the string through each one. We tacked the edge of each pumpkin onto the next one with a tiny piece of blu tac so that they would lie flat against the wall. Now hang!

We loved this craft so much that we just kept making more. In fact we got so carried away that our garland ended up way too long, so now we have two! I can’t wait to bring them out next year and add more crazy pumpkins.

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